Bob and Alice are talking, and you the viewer can't help but notice that there is something weird with Bob's dialogue. When he finishes speaking it turns out that Bob was using the lyrics to a well known song to make his point. Alternatively, Bob could have been singing, but the fact that the song was mainstream was hidden due to the fact that the song could have been reworked or sounded more appropriate to the character's situation than it actually was. Either way, the writers have made a joke by subtly slipping a popular song into the events of a show and then revealing it. Writers, like all people, just love to play with words.

This is a favorite trick of time-travelers or ambassadors to alien civilizations, who will break out song lyrics whenever they need to say something vaguely intellectual-sounding. This often seems to manifest as a game of dueling aphorisms with a local philosopher, who will always end up being impressed with such an obviously learned man. See I'm Mr. Future Pop Culture Reference. This is also a common trait of the Pop-Cultured Badass and the Cloud Cuckoo Lander.

Obviously, if the viewer knows the song well, they'll see the joke coming, but the joke is intended for a larger audience who are aware of the song but wouldn't know the lyrics by heart. If it appears in a children's show, it likely doubles as a Parental Bonus.

Examples:

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General

"CRAAAAAAAWLIIIIIING IN MY SKIIIIIIN", the refrain of Linkin Park's "Crawling", has become a Stock Phrase for mocking Wangst. Sometimes it's followed by the next line: "these wounds, they will not heal". Or a paraphrase or snowclone of it.

The first run of Toonami ended with a speech containing a paraphrased line from "The End" by The Doors.

In the Genesis of Aquarion OVA, Gen Fudou speaks the opening lines to the shows first theme song. note sekai no hajimari no hi inochi no ki no shita de kujiratachi no koe no tooi zankyou futari de kiita Soon thereafter, Reika, Silvia, and Apollo begin singing the song.

There's another comic which has Deadpool ending a flashback with a casually-spoken "You ain't seen nothin' yet." Cut back to present day, with a two-page spread of him standing in front of a giant explosion, arms in air guitar position, belting, "B-B-B-BABY, YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET!!"

One of the cases in Ogenki Clinic has a rock singer as a patient. All of her lines include at least two or three song titles.

In V for Vendetta, V introduces himself to a priest by saying, "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth... and taste." You probably remember this as the first line of The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil". Later, when asked where he's going, he says, "I'm waiting for the man."

In Paul Cornell's Knight and Squire, the British superheroes include The Milkman — who once fought a villain called Two-Ton Ted from Teddington. It remains to be seen if his real name is Ernie.

In Hoax Hunters #5, which takes place in 1984, Hoax Hunters agent Alan Lawson meets with Lauren Reynolds, who had recently encountered the Jersey Devil. As he tells her about his organization and offers her a job with them, he says "Some boys take a beautiful girl and hide her away from the rest of the world" — a line from 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. Earlier in the issue he was actually singing it; he claims a catchy hook is "the most potent mind control there is."

"I made you! I made everything! I made the tiger and the lamb! I put the bomp in the bomp-bah-bomp-bah-bomp and the ram in the rama-lama-ding-dong!"

Happens often in Astérix: In the original French version of Asterix in Belgium the Belgian chieftain claims that in "his flat country the only mountains are oppidums". This is a reference to a line from Belgian singer Jacques Brel's song "Le Plat Pays" ("The Flat Country") "...avec des cathédrales pour des uniques montagnes" ("Where the only mountains are cathedrals.")

A common trait of Luci's in The Wicked And The Divine. When she complains about Laura being too old for her the following exchange occurs:

In Drunkard's Walk II, during a discussion about Doug's Pinball Gag combat (it's magic), one character asks "How do you think he does it?" and a second responds "I don't know." A third continues "What makes him so good?... Well, it's obvious that he's a pinball wizard. And that there has to be a twist." Neither of the other two gets it.

This quote from Gibbet (Willow) of My Mëtäl, a My ImmortalHeavy MetalParody by Monica Gilbey Bieber, as an added explanation of how Gibbet would show up one chapter after Ignacďo confesses to Rainblood that he killed Gibbet. This is in reference to the scene in My Immortal where Willow is brought back to life without explanation.

Hilariously, Avenged Sevenfold is considered a poser (My Metal's equivalent of a prep) band in this fanfic.

Also, Rainblood/Chäntal mentions that he's not a vampire, but he feels like one when Tom asked him/her how s/he drank all the blood of a lady in the movie theater. Just like Avenged Sevenfold, Falling in Reverse is also, hilariously, a poser band in this fanfic.

In Another Day in the Life of Voldemort quotes a bit of "Another One Bites the Dust" shortly before entering the Potter home at Godric's Hollow.

In Tropic Thunder, Kirk Lazarus quotes the theme song to The Jeffersons as part of an inspirational speech. He's immediately called out on it.

"Don't make it any less true."

Done deliberately throughout Moulin Rouge!as part of the concept. Christian hastily composes a poem for Satine, and even before the music cues, it is clearly Elton John's "Your Song". Zidler tries to convince the Duke to stay with what, before the farce of a song starts, may be the most lascivious recital of lyrics from "Like A Virgin" I've ever heard. And the central theme of the story is simply the final line of Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy".

Jack Black's character, trying to bluff his way through a conversation with teachers while posing as a substitute, starts reciting snatches from Whitney Houston's "The Greatest Love of All". Someone asks "Isn't that a song?", and he denies it.

His Rousing Speech concludes "We roll tonight to the guitar bite, and for those about to rock, I salute you", from AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock".

Becomes a Brick Joke at the film's dénouement when the President quotes Stone in turn, during a press conference.

In a sequence of Ocean's Twelve, Ocean and Rusty start talking Spy Speak with a contact. Linus tries to join the conversation... by reciting Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir". It translates to calling the contact's niece a cheap whore. Or so they claim; in reality they're just playing a prank on him.

In the made for TV Dinotopia movie, one of the castaway brothers (who really doesn't give a dang about the local ways and culture) uses the opening lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody to answer an essay question regarding the meaning of a particular section of the Dinotopian philosophy. Afterwards, his teacher and a number of scholars are chattering about how deep it was.

In Meet the Parents, when Greg is asked to say grace at dinner, he tries to improvise a prayer, and comes up with the lyrics to Day by Day from the musical Godspell.

In Roxanne, when asked to say something romantic, Chris quotes the opening lines to "Close to You" by The Carpenters, and is immediately called out on this.

In Easy A, Olive receives a greeting card that plays Natasha Bedingfield's "Pocketful Of Sunshine", and then the song becomes a huge earworm for her. Later on, when she's lying to her best friend about having spent the weekend with a college boy, one of the lyrics slips into the conversation:

Olive: He's charming... You know, he's a real gentleman. You know, and it feels like - It feels like I got a love and I know that it's all mine.

In an odd example, all that's left of the "Admiral Boom" song in Mary Poppins is a wax lyrical from Bert.

Bert: The whole world gets its time from Greenwich. But Greenwich, they say, gets its time from Admiral Boom.

The Master of Disguise does this. Lampshaded by Fabbrizio Disguisey immediatly performing a Take at what his son said, and Lampshaded in the DVD commentary stating they had to pay a lot of money in order to do this gag.

In Horse Feathers, Wagstaff, during his first address as President of Huxley College, briefly lapses into the old vaudeville song "Any Rags?"

In Glen or Glenda?, the weird narration in the Nightmare Sequence is a mangled quotation of the lyrics to "The Green-Eyed Dragon," a reference that will mystify most viewers.

In Rock of Ages, after Drew sings half of "Don't Stop Believing", he finishes with "And it goes on and on and on." Later on, Lonny exclaims "We built this city on rock and roll!" as part of a protest, just before the protesters begin singing "We Built This City" by Starship.

Vincent in Twins does this when flirting with Linda, pretending he's reciting poetry that he wrote. When Linda's sister Marnie tells her they're just old song lyrics, she says she already knows.

Avengers: Age of Ultron: Ultron is able to take lines from a Pinocchio song and turn them into a Badass Boast about his status as The Unfettered. Used to especially chilling effect in the trailer, where the song is played hauntingly throughout, only to transition to his voice near the end.

I once had strings

But now I'm free

There are no strings on me.

Literature

In the Arthur C. Clarke/Stephen Baxter book The Light Of Other Days, about a society where privacy is becoming obsolete, a girl is seen wearing a T-shirt with the words 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town'. The protagonist doesn't know what it means, but she explains it to him later in case the reader didn't catch it: "He sees you when you're sleeping..."

The Discworld novel Hogfather has some fun with the lyrics of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town": Quoth the Raven tells Susan "You'd better watch out"; Death, in his role as Hogfather, is able to ensure some kids see him, because I know when they are peeping, and he asks if checking the list twice is sufficient. In the same book, the magical and dizzyingly fast sleigh ride prompts Albert to mutter sarcastically "Oh, what fun."

In the Past Doctor Adventures novel The Eleventh Tiger, the Doctor and his companions are staying at a 19th century gongfu school. (Note that Ian and Barbara are from ten years before the song came out, but the Doctor clearly recognises the accidental reference):

[Ian:] "One minute those kids are just running around chaotically, but the next minute they're all focused, and everyone's kung-fu fighting." "Those kids are as fast as lightning," Barbara added. The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Are they indeed? And was it, perchance, dear boy, a little bit frightening? Hmm?"

In the Fifth/Seventh team-up Cold Fusion, Chris Cwej is posing as an Australian, and describes living in a close-knit community in a sunny suburb, where everyone pops in and out of each others' houses, before concluding "With a little understanding, you can find the perfect blend and that's when good neighbours become good friends". Real Australian Tegan doesn't get the reference, having come from a time before Neighbours began, but does spot he's talking nonsense.

Sabbath (the aforementioned thief) has his own moment of doing this, for no particular reason at all: he's usually The Stoic, and he's from the 18th century. But he gets into an alarmingly perky and cheerful mood and starts quoting from The Wizard of Oz.

"‘Because,’ said Sabbath. ‘Because because because because because. Because of the wonderful things I does.’"

The New Series Adventures novel Silhouette has a brief Call Back to the The Lion King moment in "The Christmas Invasion" (below). The Twelfth Doctor is trying to convince a Human WeaponEmotion Bomb to amplify the positive emotions surrounding him, rather than the negative ones, and asks "Can you feel the love tonight?" He breaks off for a moment, then decides that wherever it came from, it works.

In Ghost Story, Dresden tries to console Molly by saying "for everything there is a season", but Molly cuts him off by telling him to stop quoting the Bible at her. Harry counters he was actually quoting the song Turn! Turn! Turn! (admittedly the latter is based on the former).

In another book he makes Toot-Toot a Major General in order to psych him up. The little faerie can't believe it and asks for confirmations. Harry replies, "Yes, yes, a Major General."

In the Selfie episode "With a Little Yelp From My Friends", Henry encourages Eliza to make friends with co-worker Joan, telling her to do her research. He unknowingly (probably, given his age) quotes a Biggie song, which Eliza enthuastically finishes for him.

Henry: Do your research. If you want to connect with Joan, find out what her interests are.

Eliza: Who she be with?!

In "Imperfect Harmony", Freddy and Henry are talking about Eliza's attitude about relationships at a karaoke party and a freshly-dumped Freddy says "Its like the second she knows you care about, watch out boy. She'll chew you up. She's a maneater. *Beat* I think I might do 'Maneater'"

In the episode "To Kill a Chupacabraj", of Workaholics Ders addresses the people waiting in small-claims court, initially mistaking them for the jury.

Ders: I have but one word: justice. Just-us. Its just us on this planet, Earth. We're alone, so we need to trust each other. Trust us. Rhymes, so you know that its real. Which brings me to the question, are we human, or are we dancers?"

An ad for the TV show Bridezillas had the brides and their families getting ready for a fight and the family starts singing the song "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister.

In "The Brain of Morbius" the Doctor is offered wine by the Sisterhood of Karn and rejects it, saying "I had a little drink about an hour ago". It's innocuous enough that it's easy not to notice it's a line from "Show Me The Way To Go Home", but if you notice you might realise the next line of the song is "and it went right to myhead"...)

JD: Just tell her about it. Tell her everything you feel. Dr Cox: ...Should I give her every reason to accept that I'm for real? JD: First of all, no-one understands relationships like Billy Joel, okay? Uptown Girl got me through high school.

In another episode Turk starts quoting the "Safety Dance" when Carla asks how he would react if their child were to take up dance classes and be mocked by his friends for it. When she tells Elliot, Elliot chastises her for forgetting the time she told Turk the Commissar was in town.

Another classic Turk Moment:

Dr Cox: Name a test, any test that you would use to check for Lupus.

Turk: Lupus? ...Does she live on the second floor? Does she live upstairs from you? I think you have seen her before.

Later, JD consoled a woman whose husband was dying with the theme from Facts of Life.

In another example of a song being disguised as a different type of song; at the Janitor's wedding in the final season, Ted sings a beautiful acoustic love song which turns out to be "Hey Ya".

In one episode where Dick got called up for jury duty and was eager to go, Nina and Mary told him not to bother. Dick made a point about how he has a sense of duty and can be relied upon:

Dick: Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall, all you've got to do is call, and I'll be there. Nina:(dismissively) Yeah, yeah, yeah... Dick: Yes I will.

Another episode had someone asking Dick what he wanted, to which he very hammily shot back, in dead seriousness: "Fame! I want to live forever — light up the sky like a flame!"

Another time, after a failed bank robbery which had Sally dressed like a biker, Tommy dressed like a sailor, and Harry dressed like a Native American, they greeted Don (in uniform) and Dick (dressed like a construction worker, since he had just gotten back from a gay bar). Everybody keeps saying "Hey!" back and forth to the tune of "Macho Man".

Either Del or Rodney on Only Fools and Horses, trying to be inspiring: "You've got to have a dream. If you don't have a dream... how're you going to have a dream come true?" (The other one just gives him a look.)

Cuddy: By the way, I checked out that philosopher you mentioned and it turns out that you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you'll get what you need.

It should be noted that "You Can't Always Get What You Want" eventually became the theme song for House's vicodin addiction.

Weird Science had an episode where Lisa the genie fell in love with one of the guys and became a Clingy Jealous Girl. He tells her "When you love someone, set them free", which causes Lisa to start deleting herself. Instantly his friend interrupts, saying "Don't listen to him! He's an idiot spouting bad song lyrics!"

The season 3 finale of Battlestar Galactica has a number of characters who turn out to be Cylons start mumbling the same bits of nonsensical poetry as a sign of their mental breakdown. Towards the end of the finale, the lines come together and are revealed to be All Along the Watchtower. The effect of Season Three's finale's reveal was weakened by the fact that the song is relatively well known, since the original was by Bob Dylan, achieved huge popularity as a cover by Jimi Hendrix, and was popular again in the early Noughties following another cover by Dave Matthews Band (as well as covers by Neil Young, Ben Harper, Lenny Kravitz, and many, many others). "There must be some way out of here" and "I can't get no relief" may be relatively unnoticeable, but dialogue that includes "Said the Joker to the Thief," even out of context, raises a few eyebrows.

All Along the Watchtower became a kind of significantLeitmotif for the Final Five Cylons at the end of Season Three and throughout Season Four. The song actually becomes vitally important to the series overall: Hera draws a series of dots which are revealed to be the notes to the song when Kara remembers it as a song her father used to play when she was a child. Kara also uses the line "there must be some kind of way out of here" in the series finale, using the notes of the song as coordinates.

According to the commentary, in the finale, when Adama asks Kara where the coordinates have taken them, her reply was to have been "Somewhere... all along the watchtower. Luckily, Katee Sackhoff recognized the narminess of the line and refused.

In the third season of the Australian Thank God Youre Here, Shaun Micallef, responding to the question "Have you ever been to London?" replies "I've been to London, I've been to Birmingham, I've been to paradise, but I've never been to me."

The 2009 series of BBC documentary Springwatch was home to a bizarre series of these. Chris Packham had taken out a bet with a friend that he could slip the name of a Smiths song into every episode. The last episode featured Kate Humble reporting that Bill Oddie had called to congratulate him on this feat, to which Chris deadpans to camera, "William, it was really nothing."

In an early episode Will and his uncle get in an argument and end up quoting lyrics from Smith's early hit "Parents Just Don't Understand."

Will: You'll ruin my rep!

Uncle Phil: You're only sixteen, you don't have a "rep" yet!

This was a favorite technique of the writers of The Bob Newhart Show. In one episode, the guys get drunk and Emily offers to make them coffee. One says, "I love coffee." A second adds, "I love tea." Then Mr. Carlin says, "I love the Java Jive, and it loves me." From another episode, Bob denies being afraid of death, saying, "I am strong, I am invincible …" at which point another character cuts him off with, "You are woman. Let's hear you roar."

In a later episode, when Jerry, who was adopted, decides to seek out his birth mother, he comments, "Why I could be a duke, or an earl!" Bob adds, "You could be the Duke of Earl."

In a first season episode of Veronica Mars, "Lord of the Bling", Veronica explains her connection to a missing teenager with the words "We used to be friends...a long time ago." Immediately afterwards, the theme song starts playing - the opening line? "A long time ago, we used to be friends…" Also, in the second season episode "The Rapes of Graff", Veronica claims she once shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.

In the short-lived Pepper Dennis, Pepper tries to advise a would-be Runaway Bride with the lyrics to D.H.T's "Listen To Your Heart".

An episode of Home Improvement had Wilson dishing out some famous quotes about love. Tim responded with: "'Everybody... loves somebody sometimes.' Martin, comma, Dean."

Another episode had Wilson musing, on the subject of Tim compromising with his wife, "You have to give a little, take a little..." Tim responds, sardonically, "Yeah, and let your poor heart break a little." Then, he realizes what the next line in the song is, and they figure it's not so bad an idea after all, as they sing together, "That's the story of, that's the story of love..."

One episode of WKRP in Cincinnati has Herb recruiting staffers to sing a jingle for a funeral home client.

Duane:: You can't help who you fall in love with. Cause when you get that feeling...

Mike:: It's like sexual healing.

Also, when Daisy and Tim begin having an argument through cliches about the wisdom of Tim getting back with his girlfriend:

Tim: I can read her like a book. Daisy: Never judge a book by its cover. Tim: He who dares, wins. Daisy: Look before you leap. Tim: Do youbelieve in life after love? Daisy: [Dismissive] That's a song. Tim: Shit.

Elizabeth Mitchell: Well, maybe, maybe the glass just started it. It was his impressive glass acting. It's kind of like a microwave in there, heating up... [laughs] Damon Lindelof: ...behind the glass. Juliet might, might as well walk over and just push the popcorn button, 'cause it's getting hot up in there. Elizabeth Mitchell:[laughing] So take off all your clothes. [Lindelof chuckles]

A running gag in Miranda involves her inability to restrain herself from doing this, and she almost always ends up lapsing into singing the rest of the song in places like a job interview, psychiatrist's office and a funeral.

Quark, talking about the Dominion War, says, "War? What is it good for? You ask me, absolutely nothing."

In the episode "In the Cards", Jake and Nog had been collecting several things, including Dr. Bashir's teddy bear, for the senior staff in exchange for items they were giving to a man named Dr. Geiger. At one point Jake suspects that Kai Winn is up to something and plans to confront her about it, introducing Nog to the expression "beard the lion in its den." This leads to the following exchange:

Nog: Lions and Geigers and bears...

Jake: Oh, my.

On an episode of Yes Dear, Jimmy and Christine are trying to write poems for each other. After several minutes of struggling, Jimmy starts reading his poem, only to find out that he accidentally wrote down lyrics to Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer". As it turns out, Christine wrote the exact same thing.

Happens occasionally on Spicks And Specks. In one memorable example, Darlene Love started telling a story about the time she almost had sex with Tom Jones. Reginald D. Hunter chimed in "From what I hear, that's not unusual."

In the Pretty Little Liars episode "Over My Dead Body," a nearly carbon monoxide-poisoned Emily has a dream (or does she?) that she's having a conversation with the late Alison; when Emily asks who "A" is, Alison - taking a line from the show's signature tune, The Pierces' "Secrets" - tells her that "Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead."

In The Carol Burnett Show's parody of Gone with the Wind, Rat recites the lyrics to "Dixie" to express his desires to go back to a peaceful time before the Civil War. Sissy tells Rat that his speech sounds catchy, and that he should set it to music. Three more examples from the same sketch: early on, when Starlet meets an old suitor, she announces, "Why if it isn't Billy Joe McCalister! I thought you jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge!" Later, when Starlet learns that a Yankee soldier is approaching Terra, she exclaims, "What the heck did you do, Melody? Tie a yellow ribbon 'round the old oak tree?!" Brashley mentions that Rat had "stopped off at the Camptown races, and as you know, that track's five miles long. He's out there betting on a bob-tailed nag, and I put two bucks on the bey myself. Of course it only paid two-sixty to show, so, doo da, doo da..."

Mork and Mindy, when Mork impersonated a priest, he offered this advice to a lady in church.

Mork: You can't hurry love. You just have to wait. It don't come easy, it's a game of give and take. Woman: That's beautiful, Father. Psalms? Mork: Supremes.

Castle, at the end of the episode "Last Call", Castle insists on sharing a bottle of expensive whiskey with Beckett, Captain Montgomery, Ryan and Esposito. When Beckett insists that she still has some paperwork to file, Castle says, "C'mon, Beckett, It's nine o'clock on a Saturday...well, nine-fifteen." Castle, Ryan and Esposito start singing "Piano Man", and Beckett caves in and joins them on the second stanza ("He says 'Son can you play me a memory?'...").

At the end of an episode of Gilligan's Island, the Skipper, following yet another failed escape plan, laments in despair, "I get the feeling we're gonna be here for a long, long time," quoting part of the closing theme tune lyrics.

In an episode of Veterinarian's Hospital, the crew works without a roof on a weatherman, who constantly takes their cues to sing songs.

Nurse Piggy: Dr. Bob, it's getting worse; it's beginning to hail!

Dr. Bob: Hail?

Weatherman: The gang's all here!

Storage Wars has Barry quote The Who at one point when describing a locker. This is pretty in-character for him, so no one else comments on it.

On Homicide Life On The Street, Gee, trying to heal a rift between partners Pembleton and Bayliss, says, "All we are is dust in the wind." Pembleton replies, "Never figured you for a Kansas fan."

Monty Python's Flying Circus: In the sketch "The Mouse Problem" the "growing social problem of people wanting to be mice" is discussed. At a certain point the following conversation takes place which will go over the heads of most non-English speakers who've probably never heard of the nursery songs "Hickory Dickory Dock" and "Three Blind Mice":

Mr A's Voice: "Well, er, then you steal some cheese, Brie or Camembert, or Cheddar or Gouda, if you're on the harder stuff. You might go and see one of the blue cheese films... there's a big clock in the middle of the room, and about 12:50 you climb up it and then ...eventually, it strikes one... and you all run down."

In the episode "Nouvion Oars" René receives a secret message in code: "The cow is ready to jump over the moon and Jack and Jill are standing in a bucket". (For our non-English speakers: these are references to the children's nursery rhymes "Hey Diddle Diddle" and "Jack and Jill (Went Up The Hill)").

In another episode, Rene asks what happened to the town's elderly, grey-haired mayor. Edith replies "The old grey mayor is dead!"

In the Angel episode "I Fall to Pieces", Cordelia glumly asks Doyle what the point of falling in love is. His response gradually morphs into Barbra Streisand's "People". She's unimpressed.

Zack: Typical day. I woke up in the morning, the alarm gave out a warning, I didn't think I'd ever it on time. By the time I grab my books and I gave myself a look, I was at the corner just in time to see the bus fly by.

Jimmy: It's...all...right.

Music

Note: For this category we only list sketches or spoken word interludes on musical albums to be counted as an example of Waxing Lyrical.

During the song "Punky's Whips" Terry Bozzio is voicing his obsession for Punky Meadows and at one point says (not sings): "Oh, Punky, isn't it romantic?" While he says that a small musical snippet from the 1930s song "Isn't It Romantic?" can be heard in the background.

Joe's Garage: During "Sy Borg" Joe is having sex with a robot, but gets too excited, causing the robot to malfunction and shout: "You're plooking too hard! Plooking too hard on me!" This is a reference to the 1966 song "Pushin' Too Hard" by The Seeds.

Newspaper Comics

Occurs on occasion in the puntacular Sunday strips of Pearls Before Swine, where the setup for the jokes can lead to strange reconstructions of song lyrics. For example, Pig tells Rat about how he entered a bread-kneading competition at a fair, lost, and didn't even get to keep the bread dough that he kneaded. Rat responds by saying that if you're persistent enough, you can keep the dough, which prompts him to conclude with this gem:

In one Sherman's Lagoon strip, Sherman the shark announced that he was collecting (Easter) eggs. Sea turtle Fillmore pointed out that someone else was appointed to collect the eggs, and exclaimed, "Doesn't anyone know who they're supposed to be?" Of course, as soon as Sherman referred to himself as the "eggman," we all knew that walrus would show up in the last panel.

A dancing couple asking "dance all night?" ("I Could Have Danced All Night")

Eliza's father has a card in his hatband reading "Reminder: Get Me To The Church On Time"

Radio

A very common gag in Milton Jones's shows; particular highlights include "Is this a photo of you with REM?" "Yes, that's me in the corner" and this gem:

I had a Siamese twin, you see, but we were separated a couple of months before I went onto the comedy circuit. In fact he earned a little money from doing this really bad impressions of me, but then he became an astronaut. I saw him again recently. He asked me how I'd been. I said, well, at first I was afraid, I was petrified, thought that I could never live without you... by my side. But I spent so many nights, thinking how you did me wrong, and I grew strong... So now you're back. From outer space.

Another joke by him combines this with Hypocritical Humor: "I'd like to see a world without plagiarism. You may say I'm a dreamer... but I'm not the only one."

In the first episode Sandy is accused of taking the petty cash, and stormed out. When they find out it was really stolen by the chairman of the Conservative Party and she returns, Charles greets her with "Ah, Sandy. You came and you gave without taking, but we sent you away."

When Pip Bin, Mr Gently Benevolent and Harry Biscuit are in space in Bleak Expectations, Harry keeps quoting "Space Oddity". When he thinks Pippa is leaving him for Mr Benevolent (again), he does the first few lines of "I Will Survive".

Also, His Majesty King George the Fourth's armada, including H.M.S. War, H.M.S. Huh, H.M.S. What Is It Good For?, and H.M.S. Absolutely Nothing.

Happens occasionally on The Now Show; one particular example came when the audience question was "Who would you give an honour too?" and someone wrote "I would give a KBE to Shalamar, to make him a knight to remember." (Hugh: "I think I was far away enough from the actual tune there that we don't have to pay royalties.")

In the first episode of the 2010 election special series, The Vote Now Show, they looked at the various government inspectors the Conservatives would abolish, including one who checks premises for illegal performing animals. The conversation between the inspector and a suspect quickly becomes "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear".

The second-to-last episode of The Vote Now Show, in what became a mini-Running Gag:

Jon Holmes: I believe that the children are our future. Treat them well and let them lead the way, show them all the beauty they possess inside... Steve Punt: Jon, has someone bet you that you can't get the lyrics to a Whitney Houston song into tonight's show? Jon Holmes: Yes. Mitch Benn has, and he now owes me five pounds.

Lloyd Langford on the failure of a Lib Dem peer to apologise for alleged sex offences: "It's sad, so sad, it's a sad, sad situation, and it's getting more and more absurd, but for Lord Rennard, 'sorry' seems to be the hardest word".

There's a round based on this. For instance, the following dialogue between Graeme Garden (as a doctor) and Barry Cryer (as his patient):

Barry: I hope you won't want to give me a jab, because I'm terrified of needles. Graeme: (contemptuous) Baby. Take off your coat. Real slow. Barry: But it hurts when I move my arms. Graeme: Baby. Take off your shoes. Barry: I can't bend over, it hurts... Graeme: (irritated) I'll help you take off your shoes. Baby. Take off your dress. Barry: Now, I can explain about the dress... Graeme: (dismissively) Yes, yes, yes. Barry : Doctor, do you want me to undress completely? Graeme: You Can Leave Your Hat On.

If one of the teams is putting on an Italian accent for 86 Chicken Cross Lane (a game in which they construct a letter from a historic personage word by word), it will inevitably morph into "Shaddap You Face".

Og: Does an optical illusion feel an, oh, such a hungry yearning burning inside of him, under the hide of him? Does an optical illusion feel the beat-beat-beat of the tom-tom in the roaring traffic's boom, in his lonely room? Finian (His scholarly interest is enlisted): Hmmm. Do you also feel like the promised kiss of springtime that trembles on the brink of a lovely song? Og: Yes, and what's worse, smoke keeps coming out of me eyes. Finian: You go round and round like an elevator lost in the tide?

A running gag in The Case of the Tale Told by an Idiot, a Macbeth/Film Noir mash-up by Bruce Kane. The Femme Fatale, Nola, is described in the words of "Whatever Lola Wants" and "Copacabana". Her accomplice's confession at the end keeps lapsing into "You Made Me Love You". Macbeth's soliloquies (in addition to the ones Shakespeare gave him) are "I'm Forever Chasing Rainbows", "Night and Day", and "Three O'Clock in the Morning".

In Sam and Max: Ice Station Santa, Sam and Max confront a giant Maimtron robot that randomly drops appropriate pop-song lyrics into its dialogue. Sam can distract it by asking it questions like "Why do fools fall in love?" and "Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near?"

The Maimtron is reactivated in What's New Beelzebub with the words, "Did you think I'd crumble? Did you think I'd lay down and die? Oh no. Not I. I will survive. I will survive."

Later in Sam & Max: What's New, Beelzebub?, they meet Satan who quotes the two lines everyone knows from Sympathy for the Devil.

They also find a radio at one point in Moai Better Blues, where if you return to a particular channel several times you get these lines: "Hello, hello, hello?" "Is there anybody out there?" "Just respond if you can hear me." "Is there anyone at home?"

In The Devil's Playhouse, the Maimtron army march to war against Maxthulthu while chanting, "If you liked it than you should have put a ring on it, if you liked it than you should have put a ring on it..."

Some of the clothing\instrument descriptions in Rock Band, unsurprisingly.

In Monster Hunter 3U, talking to one of the Moga Village fishing boat captains when you have both Shakalaka party members with you results in him reciting a short (and hilarious) homage to a famous Mary Poppins song.

In Scenario 12, Soushi uses quotes from the opening and ending song lyrics of Fafner in the Azure: Dead Aggressornote "Hajimareba, izure owaru" for the opening song, "Kizu wo outte demo habataki taito, sou negau no nara" for the ending song. Later in Scenario 25, Tsubaki will use another quote from another Fafner ending song "Separation" note "Atashi, ika nakucha". Lyrics from Fafner In The Azure: Heaven and Earth are quoted by Shou in Scenario 29 note "If dead people return to the soil, then all of us, then we are all living above dead in a way", while Ryuubi Gundam or Chousen Qubeley quotes the main song lyrics in Scenario 47 note "Tamashii wa, katachi wo koe nakara...".

In Scenario 34, Doctor West will quote the lyrics of the 1979 anime Cyborg 009note "Hahaha! The blowing wind suits this Genius Scientist Doctoooor West!".

Irregular Webcomic! does this in this strip, which incorporates a number of Duran Duran lyrics, and this strip, in which the transcript of Galileo's trial consists of the lyrics to "Bohemian Rhapsody".

In Elf Only Inn this was actually a plot point, where Slave made a big deal about someone stealing her (his?) poetry, only later was forced to admit she'd stolen all her poetry from a certain well-known singer.

xkcd does this every now and then, prompting many readers to start quoting the comic. This, inevitably, leads to Flame Wars, they get in one little fight and my mom got scared and said YOU'RE MOVIN' WITH YOUR AUNTIE AND YOUR UNCLE IN BEL AIR

In the second Li'l Mell storyline, a running gag involves Sergio trying to write his own playground songs, based on Simon & Garfunkel, and Mell telling him they're terrible. At the end, Sergio wonders if they'll see Homeschool Joe again and Mell says she told him "Me and Sergio are down by the schoolyard".

Yugi: Hey, Joey, how'd it come to this? I mean, after all we've been through? Two of a pair, now on opposite sides.

Joey: Yeah, from the very start with honor we've dueled 'n stuff. Watched each other’s backs and, you know, battled with pride. Yugi: We’re closer than brothers. And now we have to fight each other. Yugi and Joey, singing: And we trust our fate to the heart of the cards! Tristan: No matter what! Yugi and Joey, singing: Let the game begin. Tristan: No matter what! Yugi and Joey, singing: May the best man win. note Kaiba: (I love this song)

Any time Rickrolling comes up in an Internet discussion, there's a good chance that someone will mention how Rick Astley's never gonna give you up and never gonna let you down. You wouldn't get it from any other guy. It's now possible to recite lines that are simply a similar form of exaggeratedly romantic promises, and get your audience to Rick Roll themselves.

The Descendants loves this. To date, it's used Hurt by Trent Reznor, Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads and Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones.

The Sympathy for the Devil one is arguable, because the characters were quoting the Show Within a Show.

In a really old version of the character page, Marzipan's description stated that "She loves horses and her boyfriend, too."

"3 Times Halloween Funjob" has Strong Sad dressing up like David Byrne, and sure enough there's an Easter Egg with the inevitable reference to the lyrics of "Once In A Lifetime".

The last update to the site (until April Fools' Day of 2014, at least) was a "Decemberween costume special" that had The King of Town dressed up as Heat Miser from The Year Without a Santa Claus. When Homestar confused it for a "Devil Don King", he was corrected, followed by the KOT saying "I'm Mister Heat Blister, I'm Mister Hundred and One!"

Whenever someone on a message board or any sort of site says something that also happens to be the lyrics to a song, the next few posts are usually continuations of the lyrics.....

Linkara tends to do this quite a lot, most often when a comic's dialogue gives him a decent opening. This is usually an excuse to play the song, no matter how otherwise irrelevant, over the opening title card or closing credits. He will also occasionally play a clip from the song immediately after reciting the verse if he thinks viewers might not get the reference. He seems to know an awful lot of songs.

After a chapter of Dive Quest that's been particularly harrowing for both of them on a personal level, Tislomer and Babrakus start reciting lines from the Dropkick Murphys' "Forever".

Critic: You better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout. I'm telling you why. THE NOSTALGIA CRITIC IS COMING TO YOUR HOUSE!

Happens occasionally in Todd in the Shadows' videos, usually using lyrics from the song he's reviewing.

(Top 10 Best Songs of 2012) Todd: (on Gotye) We can let him have another hit! He's so talented! ...You didn't have to cut him off! (Top 10 Best Songs of 2013) Kyle: Get out there and be the best...hooded silhouetto of a man that you can be!

In "Lisa the Vegetarian" Paul McCartney says he enjoys being in "Apu's garden in the shades". (A reference to the Beatles' song "Octopus's Garden"). Also when he hears Lisa ran away from home he says: "She's leaving home?"

In "Red Man's Greed" the citizens of South Park are all being evicted by an oppressive Native American casino. They rise up and march and sing as one. The song includes lines such as "We are strong" and "No one can tell us were wrong" and sounds like an inspiring protest song... 'til it turns out they're singing "Love Is A Battlefield".

In "Kenny Dies", Cartman appears before Congress, and after making his speech, says "I'm not the best speaker. Maybe I can put it best in the words of a timeless song." He then proceeds to lead Congress in "Heat of the Moment."

The boys warn the police that criminals are going to be at the monster mash in "A Nightmare On Face Time."

Sgt. Yates: How many people at the Monster Mash? Officer: Most of the town, sir. It's a graveyard smash. Officer 2: Look, whatever we do, we'd better hurry. It gets on in a flash.

When Carter Pewterschmidt suffers a heart attack, he exclaims "I’m having a heart attack-ack-ack-ack! You oughta know by now!" before losing consciousness.

In "Foreign Affairs" Bonnie gets in a relationship with another paraplegic. Joe says that he truly loves her and proves it by standing (with help from Quagmire). The other paraplegic states that he would do anything for love, but he won't do that.

Lois tells Stewie to behave on Christmas as Santa is watching.

Stewie: What the devil do you mean, "watching"? Lois: Well, honey, Santa's making a list and checking it twice. Meg: He sees you when you're sleeping. Chris: And he knows when you're awake. *Beat* I almost caught him last year. But he's magic!

Dr Venture: I want to tell her that I love her, but the point is probably moot.

The Monarch: ... Are you reciting Jessie's Girl?

Also at the start of "Ghost Pirates of the Sargasso", we see Major Tom's last conversation before his spaceship crashes; the conversation is mostly David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and "Ashes to Ashes".

As well as Hank reciting The Doors lyrics while tripping on Molotov's spy poison, and several gags done with the ageing rockstars that seem to constitute most of The Guild's leadership. Venture Bros does this a lot actually.

Near the end of "Three Hundred Big Boys", when the piles of war plunder catch fire, Richard Nixon yells "The loot! The loot! The loot is on fire!"

In the second straight to DVD movie, "The Beast With a Billion Backs", Prof. Wernstum orders some tentacle-resisters to "Stop! In the name of love!"

Also from "I Dated A Robot".

George Michael's Head: Please pick me up before you go-go?

Also this from "Bender's Game":

Elevator Steward: Maintenance shaft 7 serving...

Professor: Shut your mouth.

Elevator Steward: I'm just talking about the shaft.

Still in "Bender's Game":

Robot Psychiatrist: You're suffering from a breakdown. Now stop, hammertime.(activates the "treatment", which is basically hitting the patient with a hammer.)

In "The Tip of the Zoidberg", The Professor tells Dr. (John) Zoidberg to flee by saying, "Go Johnny, Go!".

Variation: In the American Dad! episode where Roger poses as a college professor, his opening lecture quotes from the spoken introduction of Prince's "Let's Go Crazy". ("Electric word, 'life', it means forever, and that's a mighty long time...")

The first episode of the eminently forgettable Family Dog had exactly one funny moment, when one character says to the Butt Monkey dog, "It just goes to show you, you can't always get what you wa-ant."

A sketch featuring a crossover of The Jetsons, I Robot, and Unsolved Mysteries, introduces the case with the line "Meet George Jetson, his boy Elroy, daughter Judy, Jane his wife." The sketch ends with a preview of the 'next episode', Jem. Was she outrageous? Truly, truly outrageous?"

The Warners watched a pretentious French film with dialogue from the original lyrics to "Frere Jacques" and "Alouette".

In "Woodstock Slappy", when the festival gathers right outside Slappy's tree and she wonders aloud what's going on, Skippy says "There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear." Slappy is unamused.

In "Deduces Wild", the Warner's scavenger hunt list gradually turns into "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

In "This Pun For Hire", Yakko asks Hello Nurse "What's your story, sister?". Dot takes it as her cue to quote the opening lines of "Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves" before Yakko explains that he wasn't talking to her.

On an episode of Squidbillies where Krystal wins the lottery and Dan Halen pretends to be in love with her to get to her money.

"Krystal, I want to know what love is, I know you can show me. I feel like making love to you. Love in an elevator, lovin' up as I'm goin' down."

In an episode of Arthur, while giving some advice, Binky Barnes starts reciting the lyrics of the show's actual theme song ("You gotta listen to your heart/Listen to the beat/Listen to the rhythm/The rhythm of the street"). He then notes that it's just something he heard somewhere.

In an episode of Bump in the Night, Mr. Bumpy, Squishington and Molly Coddle are in a contest to see who can freak each other out. Squishington "averts" to a sight behind the door:

Squishington: Get back! Get back to where you once belonged!

Though the CD didn't come out until about two seasons later, Code Lyoko's William says "Being sensible is just not sensible". Yumi points out that it came from the Subdigitals (then the Subsonics, but they changed the name to avoid copyright from another similar band).

An episode of Bojack Horseman has a scene in which Beyoncé Knowles trips and twists her ankle, sending the media into a frenzy, as well as a string of terrible Beyonce-related puns:

Reporter in the field: Well, Tom, I'm told that she fell on ''all the single dollars."

A dark (and likely unintentional) example appears in Wonderful Tonight, the autobiography of Pattie Boyd (ex-wife and muse of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton). Ringo Starr refused to believe that his wife, Maureen, was having an affair with George until George announced that he was in love with Maureen in front of an entire dinner party—including their spouses. According to Boyd, Ringo worked himself into a state and went around for the rest of the night muttering, "Nothing is real, nothing is real."

While not exactly trying to pass them off as "regular conversation", ESPN's Chris Fowler reveals in an interview with Sports Illustrated magazine that he had one of his groomsmen incorporate song lyrics into his speech at Fowler's wedding. The groomsman introduced it as "a reading from the great American poet James Hetfield". (The song in question was "Nothing Else Matters".)

"When they read the results, my face was … frozen. But then I thought about it and I just decided just to … let it go."

Herman Cain used a quote in one of his speeches, which he attributed to a ‘poet’, and in a later speech he claimed it was from ‘the closing song to the 2000 Olympics’, unaware that it was taken from The Power of One, used in the ending of the American dub of Pokémon 2000. The internet did. Later, when he dropped out of the Republican Party’s primary elections for the 2012 presidential elections, he used the same quote in his concession speech, saying, ‘I believe these words come from the Pokémon movie,’ trying to pass it off as an indication of him being a family man.

Cain: Life can be a challenge. Life can seem impossible. It’s never easy when there’s so much on the line. but you can make a difference: with courage, you can set things right. The gift to dream, and make dreams real, is yours and mine.

They didn't need the coming revival of On the Town to inspire them—Sidney Sandler gave his prescription information to the order taker for the AARP Pharmacy Service in Pennsylvania. He followed this with his address and ended with "New York, New York." The following exchange ensued, short but a delight to both participants. Order taker: "It's a hell of a town." Mr. Sandler: "The Bronx is up." Order taker: "And the Battery is down."

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